BURMA'S KACHIN STATE: COUPS, TEAK, AND CHINESE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 001256

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINS MARR SENV SNAR BM CM
SUBJECT: BURMA'S KACHIN STATE: COUPS, TEAK, AND CHINESE


Classified By: Consular Officer Walter Parrs for Reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary: On a recent trip to Kachin State in Burma's
far north, Emboff gained insight into a failed coup attempt
within an ethnic cease-fire group, the NDA-K. The outfit,
once one of the region's most significant insurgent groups,
is now little more than a business organization that reaps
the economic benefits of peace with the Burmese regime and
trade with China. When the teak runs out, however, the NDA-K
may lose its commercial advantage and might turn to drug
trafficking. End Summary

WHILE THE CAT WAS AWAY
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2. (U) In mid-September, while Ting Ying, Chairman of the
ethnic Kachin "National Democratic Army" (NDA-K),was
visiting Rangoon on business, five high-ranking members of
the cease-fire group staged a coup attempt, briefly taking
over NDA-K headquarters in Panwa, northeast Kachin State.
Subsequent international media reports claimed, incorrectly,
that the coup was neatly suppressed as Ting Ying raced back
to Kachin State to meet with the coup leader in Myitkyina for
negotiations and a subsequent deal to lay down arms.


3. (C) Lt-Col Khun Htat Gum, spokesman for the Kachin
Independence Organization (KIO),picked up the plot line with
Emboff in a October 4 meeting in the Kachin capital of
Myitkyina. When the coup leader, NDA-K Secretary Lawa Zaung
Khaung, arrived in Myitkyina for negotiations on September
19, he was immediately detained by regional command forces of
the Burmese military. In Panwa, NDA-K soldiers sympathetic
to Ting Ying, led by Ting Ying's son, forcibly regained
control of NDA-K headquarters, detaining the other four coup
leaders. On October 3, Ting Ying turned the coup leaders
over to the Burmese regional commander, Major General Ohn
Myint, for interrogation and detention.


4. (C) In a follow-up meeting on October 6th between Emboff
and KIO Secretary La Ja, the latter reported on Maj Gen Ohn
Myint's interrogation of the detained coup leaders.
According to La Ja, the Burmese regional commander stated he
would not take further action against the coup leaders
because he did not want to interfere in NDA-K affairs;
however, he would transmit their statements to superiors in
Rangoon. (Note: Three of the coup leaders are official
delegates to the regime's National Convention, which may
explain the GOB reluctance to take direct action against
them. End Note.)

RATIONALES FOR THE COUP
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5. (C) The true reasons for the attempted coup are difficult
to ascertain. There is significant dissatisfaction within
NDA-K ranks over Chairman Ting Ying's exclusive control of
the group's business operations and his deepening alignment
with the Chinese. According to KIO sources, Ting Ying has
formed a bodyguard corps for personal protection made up
exclusively of Chinese "mercenaries." The corps, a KIO
spokesman claimed, numbers in the hundreds and is led by Zhao
Ra, a Chinese-born adopted son of Ting Ying. The Chinese
bodyguard affords Ting Ying protection to make controversial
business decisions, purportedly more in Chinese interests
than in those of the rank-and-file NDA-K. The coup leaders
apparently counted on support from the rank-and-file, but the
support did not materialize.


6. (C) The coup leaders themselves issued a statement shortly
after capturing NDA-K headquarters in Panwa, accusing Ting
Ying of recruiting foreign (read: Chinese) troops, as well as
linking him to arms dealing and drug running. Not
surprisingly, NDA-K officials subsequently denied the
accusations, first in a press release and later reiterated by
one of the group's representatives in a meeting with Emboff
on October 5. Col. Zahkun Ngwe Tao, head of an NDA-K
commercial gem enterprise, denied any presence of a Chinese
corps within the NDA-K, and said that Ting Ying had adopted
two Chinese boys years ago, who now hold senior ranks and are
the only foreign presence in the organization. The coup
attempt was inspired by the same "opportunists" responsible
for coup attempts in the 1990s, he explained. Tao firmly
laid responsibility for a 2004 assassination attempt against
Ting Ying at the feet of the recent coup leaders, absolving
the KIO of any guilt.

COMMENT: LET'S MAKE A DEAL
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8. (C) The NDA-K, once a significant insurgent group that
ruled northeast Kachin State, today resembles nothing more
than a tightly-controlled business cartel. By all accounts,
the outfit's sole political objective now is to maintain
sovereignty over the economic concessions it garnered in 1989
in one of the Burmese regime's first cease-fire arrangements.
That deal, which both sides still honor, allows the NDA-K to
trade teak and gems in exchange for basic necessities from
China, such as electricity and roads. Pictures we have seen
of the Panwa region show vast expanses of barren hills
surrounding the main town and mile-long convoys of trucks
laden with teak heading to China. When the teak is depleted,
locals expect the Chinese will be less willing to provide
electricity. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) fears
that the NDA-K may try to replace its teak resources with
opium poppy cultivation to finance its trade with China. End
Comment.
VILLAROSA